Railway-spike



(No Model.) I

' J.'GHURUHWARD.

RAILWAY SPIKE I Patented Feb. 28, 1893;

UNTTED STATES FATENT @rrrcn.

JAMES CHURCHWARD, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

RAI LWAY-SPI KE.

SPEGIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 492,527, dated February28, 1893. Application filed February 11,1892- Serial No. 421,216. (Nomodel.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES CHURCHWARD, a subject of the Queen of GreatBritain, and a resident of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of NewYork, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railway-Spikes, ofwhich the following is a specification.

My invention relates to railway spikes, and its object is to provide aspike which while readily admitting of being driven to place in arailway tie, will when in place, resist to a maximum a tendency toloosen under use and which may be withdrawn whenever desired withoutmaterially unfitting the tie for its subsequent reception.

The invention consists of a railway spike constructed as hereinafterdescribed and claimed, and as illustrated in the drawings forming a parthereof, in which similar numerals and letters of reference designatecorresponding parts in the several views.

Figure 1 is a perspective View, on an enlarged scale of a spikeembodying my invention; and Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 are partial sideelevations of modified constructions.

The spike is formed at its upper end with a head 11, having a fiat uppersurface and downwardly and inwardly extending side faces 12 and 12.Below the side 12 is formed a lip 13 adapted to bear upon the base of arail and below the side 12 is formed a convex projection 14, oppositethe lip 13 and'extending for some distance below the plane of the lowerface of the lip. The sides 15 of the body of the spike are straight andabove the point of the spike are formed enlargements, which are alike inform on each side of the spike and are designated as 16 in Figs. 1 and2, having essentially convex upper faces, the sides of said enlargementsmerging into the point 17 of the spike.

In Figs. 3 and 4 the enlargements are disposed at an obtuse angle to thebody of the spike, those in Fig. 3, designated as 16 having smoothinclined upper faces, while those in Fig. 4, designated as lo haveformed on their upper faces a series of steps, and as shown in Fig. 5the upper faces of the enlargements, designated as 16 are horizontal andsmooth. If found desirable the upper faces of the enlargements 16 may beformed with steps as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2.

The swellings or enlargements above the point of the spike being equalon each side of the shank and the angles from the point a to the pointI) being the same in each instance, the spike when driven passes directand straight into the tie, without curving or swerving which would causethe spike to be thrown off from or against the rail.

When the point 17 passes into the tie it cuts the fibers of the wood andas the enlargements above the point pass into the tie the fibers springback and rest upon the upper faces of the enlargements. Thus it will beseen that it will require much greater power to withdraw the spike thanif it were tapered or straight from the head to the point, as all thefibers must be reversed in position before the enlargements are fullyreleased to permit of removing the spike.

The advantage of the form of the enlargements, particularly that shownin Figs. 1 and 2 is that the fibers of the wood are not ripped or brokenas the spike is withdrawn but by a simple exercise of power upon thehead of the spike the enlargements reverse the position of said fibers.

It will be readily seen that if there were an enlargement on only oneside of the spike the spike could not be driven straight but wouldfollow the course of the lesser angle, that is, the side opposite theenlargement, thus making such a construction impracticable and useless,as has been shown by actual tests with curved spikes.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A railway spike having a smooth straight body, and enlargements formedon the sidesof the body above the point of the spike, said enlargementsbeing alike in form, the upper faces of said enlargements meeting thesides of the body at an obtuse angle and their sides merging into thepoint of the spike, and the upper faces of said enlargements beingformedwith a series of steps, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname, in presence of two witnesses, this 9th day of February, 1892.

JAMES CHUROHWARD.

Witnesses:

A. B. GHoBor, M. V. ORoNIN.

